Weekly Reflection: Jim Crow’s Worst Enemy

Mar 22, 2023

Continuing our focus on Women’s History Month, we lift up the witness of Joan Trumpauer Mulholland. As a young woman, Joan Trumpauer participated in many of the campaigns of the Civil Rights Movement. The first photo posted above is her mug shot for participating in the Freedom Rides that challenged racial segregation in interstate transportation. Along with other Freedom Riders, she spent two months confined in the notorious maximum security Parchman Penitentiary. The second photo comes from a sit-in at the Woolworth’s lunch counter in Jackson, MS. Both Black and white peaceful protestors endured verbal abuse and physical violence for their efforts to desegregate lunch counters. The Jackson sit-in was one of the most violent of the hundreds of sit-ins throughout the South.

Joan presented an especially dangerous challenge to the Jim Crow system of racial segregation. A main motive for that system was the supposed need to protect white women from Black men. Joan not only rejected that false premise but also actively worked with Black people to dismantle that oppressive system. She was considered such a threat that the Ku Klux Klan marked her for assassination. Despite ongoing threats, Joan refused to back off of her commitment to embody racial justice and reconciliation. To this day, she continues to share her story and participate in movements for racial justice. Her son documented his mother’s witness in the film An Ordinary Hero. The trailer is posted below and the full movie is available by clicking here. Taking the time to watch the movie is a good way to learn about Joan’s story of faith and perseverance. It is also a good way to celebrate Women’s History Month.

Just last month, the Virginia General Assembly passed a resolution honoring Joan Trumpauer Mulholland. It lists numerous examples of her courageous participation in the Civil Rights Movement and concludes with the following words:

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the General Assembly hereby
commend Joan Trumpauer Mulholland for her inimitable role in the civil rights movement of the 1960s
and her ongoing commitment to educating others about equality and advocating for social justice

This resolution is especially poignant considering the fact that Virginia was one of the strongest proponents of the Jim Crow system and one of the most resistant to changing that system. Joan Trumpauer Mulholland is a vivid example of someone who believed and acted on the words quoted by Dr. King, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” That arc is yet to be complete, so the call embodied by Joan is still our call today.